Turkish Forum

Tag: imports

  • A guide to exporting to Turkey

    A guide to exporting to Turkey

    Turkey may not be the most obvious export market for British SMEs, but with a large growing economy, it could be worth considering

    • Rosie Niven
    • Guardian Professional,
    Egyptian Spice Bazaar Ist 008

    With a population of 73 million, Turkey has a large pool of potential customers Photograph: Alamy

    Straddling two continents, Turkey has been an important trading post going back to Roman times and earlier. In 2012, Turkey is the world’s 18th and Europe’s seventh-largest economy. With a population of 73 million, the eastern Mediterranean country has a large pool of potential consumers.

    More importantly, Turkey has a growing economy. Its gross domestic product grew by 8.5% in 2011, making it the fastest-growing economy in Europe. It is estimated that Turkey will be in the top 10 GDP economies by 2023. And, with close links with both Europe and Middle Eastern economies, Turkey remains an important staging post for businesses entering Asian markets.

    Last month, the UK’s deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, led a British business delegation to Turkey to discuss possible new deals with their Turkish counterparts. Those who participated included CEOs from companies such as Arup, Mott McDonald and Cella Energy.

    A number of British high-street names are already present in Turkey, including Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Vodafone and Laura Ashley. In the past year, Turkish imports of British goods and services rose by 20%, and the government has an ambition of doubling bilateral trade between 2010 and 2015.

    But it is not just big businesses that are able to access the opportunities presented by Turkey’s booming economy. More and more SMEs are taking advantage of cheap short-haul flights to tap into markets in Istanbul, Ankara and other major Turkish business hubs.

    One of these SMEs is Leicestershire-based Pera Consulting, which signed a contract worth £2m with a Turkish government agency 18 months ago and is now bidding for work that could be worth up to £50m. Among Pera’s services are business advice and management training provided to governments to help increase business productivity, innovation, export and growth. These services are particularly relevant in growing economies like Turkey’s, says Tanya Allen, Pera’s head of marketing and communications. “Turkey offers significant opportunities for us with our experience in designing business growth stimulation programmes.”

    Opportunities

     

    Business and management consultancies like Pera are among the SMEs that are finding their sectors in demand. According to UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), other areas of opportunity include energy and renewables, ICT, defence technology, education and skills and infrastructure. The main UK exports to Turkey in 2011 were machinery and mechanical appliances, pharmaceuticals, iron and steel and plastics.

    Pravin Jethwa’s company Amazing Interactives produces 3D software for clients in the education sector. Their route into the Turkish market followed a trade fair where they met a number of potential clients from Turkey where there is currently lots of investment in school building. One of the meetings eventually turned into a deal. “They looked at our software and liked it and trialled it in some of their schools in Istanbul,” he said. “That gave us a foothold in Turkey.”

    Like many businesses exploring overseas markets, Amazing Interactives accessed support from UKTI in the form of an Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS), which identified the markets that had potential for their company and a list of possible clients there.

    Amazing Interactives also found that its client and suppliers could provide support. The trust that owned the schools it supplied was able to organise an event in Turkey to showcase the company’s 3D software. Texas Instruments, a company that supplied hardware to Amazing Interactives, also wanted to increase its profile in Turkey through this event and agreed to pay for Jethwa’s flights and accommodation.

    Since Amazing Interactives won its first contract in Turkey, its products have been procured by other schools in the same group, and Jethwa says that he has had interest from institutions elsewhere in the country. That poses new challenges for Amazing Interactives, who for the first time are hitting the language barrier. Their previous client, a top school in Istanbul, was happy with the software being in English. “One of the issues now is that potential clients want it in Turkish,” he explains.

    Trade missions

     

    Pera dealt directly with a Turkish government agency initially, which provided some support. This agency helped it understand the barriers Turkish businesses were facing and how Pera could help in these areas.

    But, as Pera widens its interests in the market, it is making more use of other support. One source of support that Pera has called on is UKTI, which has carried out an OMIS on Turkey for the company. Earlier this year, Pera’s executive chairman John Hill went on one of UKTI’s trade missions to Turkey. “It was highly beneficial in opening doors that would have taken a lot longer to realise otherwise,” says Allen. “For the new ventures we are pursuing, we have identified a local partner to work with, an organisation with a very similar ethos and reputation to ourselves within the business community.”

    Allen recommends that other SMEs should consider using the support available from UKTI and find themselves a good local partner with connections throughout the country, not just in Istanbul and Ankara.

    “Global competition is fierce, so SMEs must ensure they have the best advice before tackling any market,” says Allen. “Demonstrating a long-term commitment to Turkey and integrating with the local business community and with key intermediaries is absolutely vital,” she advises.

    But Allen says that the Turkish market is one that is worth pursuing because “it represents not only a high-growth economy, but one that is at the juncture between Europe, Asia and the Middle East”.

    UKTI appears to agree. Forecasts predict that, by 2025, Turkey will be one of the top 10 economies in the world and UKTI has identified it as a priority market, noting that its “recent economic growth record, its talented, young workforce and its geographical location as a prime hub for regional market access make Turkey a hugely attractive destination for UK and European trade and investment”.

    But UKTI has also identified how Turkey offers significant untapped potential by British business and has sought to strengthen bilateral ties.

    Allen is optimistic that Turkey will go on offering export potential for SMEs. “It’s been a trading post for thousands of years, and that is likely to continue,” she explains. “Turkey has a great future, and it will be a thriving market for years to come.

    “It won’t always be easy,” she adds. “But, with the right local support, it’ll certainly be worthwhile.”

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  • Protest to Ban Live Exports to Turkey

    Our colleagues from Compassion in World Farming have recently published new footage from investigations on the export of live animals from the EU to Turkey. The photos prove that, despite all claims from Big Ag goups, these horrendous circumstances are no exception to the rule: animals are crammed into overcrowded trucks; they are not provided with (enough) food and water, they are injured, exhausted, and some dead.

    Even weak EU legislation on the protection of animals during EU transport is routinely breached – and politicians are not acting fast enough. Thus, we launched a protest asking EU Commissioner John Dalli to suspend the export of animals to Turkey as a matter of urgency in order to prevent further suffering and to bring an end to long distance transport of live animals altogether. We are currently collecting signatures and have already gathered more than 18,000 – we will keep you posted on further developments.

    via Protest to Ban Live Exports to Turkey.

  • Turkish gold imports expected to exceed 70 tons

    Turkish gold imports expected to exceed 70 tons

    By REUTERS

    Published: Oct 5, 2011 22:41 Updated: Oct 5, 2011 22:41

    ISTANBUL: Imports of gold to Turkey were expected to exceed 70 tons both this year and next, marking a rise of more than 63 percent over 2010 levels, but remain held back by high prices and a weaker lira, Istanbul Gold Exchange Chairman Osman Sarac told Reuters.

    Imports were 42.49 tons in 2010 and 69.15 tons in the first three quarters of this year. The lira currency has weakened nearly 20 percent against the dollar since the start of the year.

    Because of high global gold prices of the past two years, imports are far below levels seen between 2005 to 2009, when the lowest amount imported in any year was 165.9 tons.

    “We expect the gold prices to remain high in 2012 and thus maintain a negative impact on Turkey’s gold imports,” Sarac said. “We can expect imports of around 70 tons in 2012, a similar level that of this year.”

    Domestic gold production in the first six months was 10.4 tons and was expected to reach 20 tons in 2011 as a whole, compared to an annual 16.4 tons in 2010.

    With lira prices for gold at record levels, consumers bought less jewelry and sold more for scrap.

    Turkish jewelry exports in the first seven months of the year were $814 million, and were expected to be around $1.5 billion for the full year.

    Sarac also said 5,000 tons, or around three percent of the world’s total physical gold stock of 163,000 tons was kept as under-the-mattress savings in Turkey, amounting to a value of $273 billion.

    He said increased investment demand for gold, helped by the low interest rate environment, has helped offset the fall in jewelry demand.

    via Turkish gold imports expected to exceed 70 tons – Arab News.

  • Lack of technological goods production widens Turkey’s imports

    Lack of technological goods production widens Turkey’s imports

    ISTANBUL – Anatolia News Agency

    This file photo shows customers at the opening day of a technology shop in central Istanbul. Electronic goods in Turkey are usually imported. Hürriyet photos
    This file photo shows customers at the opening day of a technology shop in central Istanbul. Electronic goods in Turkey are usually imported. Hürriyet photos

    Turkey paid a total of $29.45 billion over the last five years for 18 items that are not produced in the domestic market, according to a recent report from the Istanbul Chamber of Certified Public Accountants, or ISMMMO.

    High-technology products led by helicopters, aircraft, mobile phones and laptops, constitute a great part of Turkey’s imports, in addition to mines, agricultural products and energy resources such as oil, according to the report. The “Turkey’s Industrial Production and Facts” report is prepared as a result of an extensive observation of 3,000 different industrial items.

    “Instead of allocating billions of dollars each year to imports, Turkey should attach more importance to research and development studies and prevent brain drain,” said Yahya Arıkan, chairman of the İSMMMO. “We cannot even produce watches or devises used for measuring blood pressure.”

    Helicopters and aircrafts have led Turkey’s imported industrial products list for the last five years, followed by mobile phones in the second spot. Turkey paid a total of $8.4 million for helicopter and aircraft imports between 2006 and 2010 and $6.9 million for mobile phone imports.

    Turkey is experiencing a great weakness and economic loss with high-technology products, the report said, adding that the country pays billions of dollars to foreign countries each year to import many technological products.

    Turkey pays some $7.8 billion each year to import a total of 18 products that cannot be produced in the domestic market, the report said. The amount paid abroad totaled nearly $30 billion over the last five years, according to the report.

    High-technology products lead by optical instruments, medical imaging devices, printers and copier machines and consumer electronics such as mobile phones and digital cameras are considerably imported from the Eastern Asian countries, the report said. According to the report, laptops come in the third spot with a total cost of $4.4 million, followed by informatic product components with $2.6 million. Printers, scanners and copier machines totaling $1.4 million are the other technological products in the list. The watch sector’s imports also have quite a big share, representing $1 million in the total amount.

    Recalling the domestic automobile production debate, Arıkan said, “Before this discussion, we should discuss our economy, which is unable to produce cameras, motorboats, lenses for cameras, blood pressure gauges and even watches.

    “Turkey can produce technology,” Arıkan said. “Specialization, cooperation, planning and investments are needed. We can reach prosperity and social stability only by complying with technological revolutions.”